117 Days of James Patterson – Day 107

We were in Interview Room Number Two, the larger of our interrogation spaces, the one with the better electronics.

Oh my God, who cares? Why would you start a chapter like that? “Better electronics.” I’ll give you “better electronics.”

It’s time to interrogate Marcus Dowling – no electronics necessary. Let’s just wait for his lawyer to show up. Hmmm-hmm-hmmmmm. Doo-dee-doo. Nothin’ happening here. La-la-la, la-la.

No really, that’s pretty much all that happens in Chapter 107. Is somebody running out of ideas? Hmmm? Are you guys just dragging this shitty little book out to fill a quota of chapters and pages so you can cash your gigantic royalty checks?

Dowling is sitting in the famous Interview Room Number Two, “rocking back on (the) hind legs” of a chair, waiting for that lawyer to show up. The gun is sitting on the table in front of him. A ballistics tech (Carl Loomis) comes in and picks up the gun but takes the time to let Dowling know that he admires his films. C’mon, Loomis, get the hell out of here, you’re ruining the mood. There’s a little cop-threatening, deal-offering (“The DA goes home at five” if anyone wants to make a deal), and some cocky suspect banter (“Cross your heart?”), but little else. That is, until Conklin begins to hum the theme song from Dowling’s film Night Watch.

It was a catchy little ditty that had made the charts even when Dowling and Cushing’s shoot-’em-up movie had bombed.

I saw something come over Dowling’s face as Richie hummed. The nonchalance evaporated. The chair legs came down. Seemed to me that hearing that tune had focused Dowling as nothing else had.